Tobacco Factory

The Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville was the most important industrial building of Spain during the XVIII Century and it was the first Tobacco Factory in Europe.

When in 1492 the Spanish “discovered” America, they also “discovered” the tobacco plant and they decided to bring it to Sevilla, where it was studied along the XVI Century. They brought tobacco from Cuba, Brazil and Virginia (USA).

At the beginning of the XVII Century a small Tobacco Factory was founded inside of the city, remember that back then, Sevilla still had a defensive wall. That factory closed in 1760 when they moved to outside of the city, so that it could be bigger. The State had the monopoly of tobacco so that they earned all the money they got from it.

At first, cigars were made by men, but at the beginning of the XIX the government realised that women were easier to work with because they did not ask for much money, that’s how the “cigarreras” were born.

In 1951 they moved the University of Seville to the Factory, moving the Tobacco industry to another neighbourhood.